Brunch at Pen & Pencil

Pen & Pencil, Manchester

Oh hey food section, it’s been a while. I’m actually shocked that it’s been a month and a half since my last food blog post but I promise I won’t leave it so long again.

I hope you’re not on a strict diet or anything, because they’re coming back with a bang starting with this beauty of a brunch!

Say hello to the latest foodie spot in the Northern Quarter, Pen & Pencil, which really takes its brunches seriously. They even serve brunch from 10am until 5pm every day. Great for when you can’t seem to drag yourself out of bed until the afternoon on a Sunday…

The Drinks

My fellow blogging friend, Ros at Majella Rose, and I were originally going to try out the dinner menu, but ended up booking in for brunch at the last minute. As we sat down and ordered our drinks, a decaf latte (£2.70) for Ros and a matcha green smoothie (£5.00) for me, we knew we’d made the right decision.

The atmosphere at Pen & Pencil is so perfect for a chilled Sunday afternoon and we soon got carried away chatting about my trip to Austria and Ros’ adorable growing baby bump.

As a coffee lover, Ros is currently on a mission to find the best pregnancy-friendly decaf lattes in Manchester. Where did this one rank? Pretty damn high! So if you’re cutting the caffeine, then Pen & Pencil have got your back.

My ‘You’ve Met Your Matcha’ green smoothie was delicious too, packed with banana, pear, spinach, almond milk and matcha tea. I think they definitely could’ve gotten away with a touch more matcha though, although I know lots of people who can’t quite handle the taste.

The Brunch

Now for the main event. Apart from having to stop Ros from ordering two dishes just for herself (eating for two and all that jazz) we decided on our brunch pretty quickly.

I went for the American Breakfast (£9.50), which consists of two eggs cooked any style (scrambled for me), a sausage patty, streaky bacon, pit beans, portobello mushroom, vine tomatoes, hash brown and American pancakes.

A real feast but since it was the first thing I’d eaten all day, it went down really quickly! Apart from the pit beans, which lacked much flavour, and the inclusion of teeny tiny pancakes vs normal sized pancakes, everything on the plate was amazing. I don’t usually like hash browns but these were some of the best I’ve ever had!

Ros went for the American Pancakes with Syrup (£7.00), which was simple but exactly what she wanted. The contrast of salty streaky bacon, American short stack pancakes and sickly sweet maple syrup is always a winner and this was no exception.

The Verdict

Brunch at Pen & Pencil was just as good as we had anticipated, with some real authentic American touches on the menu that made us feel like we were brunching in Brooklyn, NYC, rather than the Northern Quarter in Manchester.

Although I felt some of the flavours could have been ramped up a little, I’ll definitely be back again soon with Mat in tow. The American Breakfast sure beats a regular fry-up and the coffee and smoothies were great to wash it all down with.

The staff had also nailed the right level of great service without making us feel like we were being rushed along, or even worse, like they’d forgotten about us completely.